Snow
by Chloe Benson
Summary: Kate Winters is officially Queen of the Underworld. Henry is officially her's and her son Milo is safe. Her family is finally safe. But there is a new power playing a dangerous game, and Kate is one of the pieces, as well as the prize. A prophesy child might just save Olympus, as well as the entire council and the world.
1. Chapter 1

There were soft sounds that came from the inside of my closet. I crossed my arms and whispered, "alright, no more hiding. You can't hide forever."  
There was a tiny giggle that was quickly stiffened. I moved my sweaters aside and Milo screeched as he tried to leap past me. I caught him and carried him over my shoulder out of the closet. He screamed and laughed, his hand grabbing at my shirt since he felt he was going to fall. I set him on the bed and he curled up, and then scampered to hide under the pillows. I smiled and pulled away the pillow, only for Milo to try to leap past me again. He landed on the floor and ran for the door. I sighed and reappeared right in front of him; I caught him and scooped him up. He laughed and I said, "Milo, you stop doing that."  
He laughs and I set him back down on the bed, I smooth down his dark hair which is sticking up with static from rubbing against the blankets and my sweaters. I sigh and he grabs his feet and rolls onto his back. He laughs his little chortling laugh. I smile and sit down to finish getting ready. With a pang I remember how Ava had been the one to do this. My heart aches for a moment, and it's then I know though that I'm keeping my promise. I'd sworn to remember her, and the pain was what helped me know I was keeping that oath. Milo chortled again and Pogo leaped onto the bed with him and licked Milo's forehead. I smiled at them in the mirror and continued to get ready.  
The door opened sometime later and I finished containing Milo for the fifth time, he leaped off the bed anyway though and ran straight to Henry. Henry smiled and scooped Milo up into his arms. I smiled and Milo tried to climb onto Henry's shoulders.  
When Henry had finished handling the toddler in his arms he said, "Your mother's here. She's practically dying to see you and Milo."  
I smile and cross over to them saying, "Then why am I keeping her waiting?"  
Henry smiled and pulled Milo up onto his shoulders and says, "She just arrived."  
I rolled my eyes and helped Henry control Milo since our son was practically trying to fall off Henry's shoulders.  
Henry smiled; it looked so happy and wonderful that my heart swelled with joy as well.

"Maybe you want to take him? I need to go and see who else is arriving." Henry smiled as he handed me Milo and then disappeared.  
I roll my eyes and say to Milo, "now you be good, you daddy and I have more than enough to deal with."  
He gives me that toddler smile that only says that more trouble and mischief is on the way. I sigh and then reappear in the opening. There's a small gasp and then my mother is there and smiling. I smile as well and she says, "Oh let me see my grandson!"  
I smile and hand he Milo. "Careful, he's in the terrible twos." My mother smiles and says, "oh but they're so sweet and adorable at that age!" Henry arrives and says, "Not when you're the one getting up to put him back to bed." I smile and give him a small push. "Hey! I did that last night not you!" Henry shrugs and replies, "but who does it almost every other night?"  
I open my mouth to argue but close it quickly and narrow my eyes at him. Then I smile and say, "Just because you're god of the underworld doesn't mean that you have power over everything."  
He narrows his eyes and I smile at having the upper hand. Milo screeches and reaches for me. My mother hands him back to me and I take him in my arms. For once he doesn't squirm like he had been doing for the past few months.  
My mother smiles and for a moment it looks painful as she says, "how is everything down here. I miss getting to seed you during the spring and summer."  
I fidget and Milo lets out a loud obnoxious yawn.  
"Everything's fine down here." I respond with a smile, really everything was fine. I told Henry I was going to stay here with him all year, and now I realized that I did miss my mother during those other six months that I was supposed to be on the surface. And I missed James. Sure he visited every other week for a few hours, and during those hours he'd sit with me and play with Milo, or he'd just talk about what new adventure he was planning, and he was keeping his promise. He'd said that there was one girl he liked, he'd seen her a couple times and she apparently liked him as well, he planned to try and stay with her soon.  
I still missed him though, and I missed Ava, and my mother, I even missed Dylan on rare occasions. Being with Henry though, that made up for everything.

There was silence for a moment as I thought about this, then I came back and said, "Yes, everything is just fine, I enjoy being down here. I couldn't leave Henry and Milo even if I wanted to."

My mother sighs and says, "Just let me know if you want to leave, I can come anytime."

"She can leave anytime she wants; we established that before the war." Henry states softly, but I can hear the worry behind his carefully placed mask. I took his hand and said, "And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so let's drop the subject."

Milo laughs and reaches over my shoulder for whoever has arrived behind me, I look over my shoulder and see James leaning against one of the pillars, his blond hair light from all his time in the sun, and his eyes are sparkling with mischief. I smile and he says, "You're getting paler, it looks like you need to see the sun."

"I look into that when Milo doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore." I respond with a huff, he really didn't have to say that, the subject of me staying down here all year was already a touchy subject with Henry, and I could tell that all of us bringing it up like this was upsetting him, Persephone wasn't the only one who could read him now. I look at him and smile, he gives me a smile as well, but it's slightly forced and I say, "I'm doing just fine down here, and besides, I couldn't leave Milo for more than five minutes without him getting into some kind of trouble and Henry already has enough to do without having to take care of a two year old."

Henry smiles and behind his eyes I can see that he's happy that I'm skittering the topic like its hot coals. James shrugs and says, "Good for you two then, I'm glad it's all working out."

Milo wraps his arms around my neck and makes soft sounds in my ear as he tries to grab my earrings with her teeth. I sigh and shift him so he doesn't have the chance. He gurgles his displeasure and I say, "How about we set you and Milo up together so that I can have a few minutes of rest."

James shrugs and says, "I didn't come to play with your kid, but if you insist." He crosses to us and Milo lets out a squeal as I set him down on the floor to let him run to James. Milo toddles his way over and grabs James's leg laughing in joy as James rubs his head. Henry's arm winds around my waist and I lay my hand on his softly, my mother smiles and says, "You're both doing just fine, he's happier than any toddler I've ever seen."

"That's because he gets away with so much." I say and look at Henry; he blinks and then gives me that tiny smile that says he is slightly guilty at the moment. I roll my eyes playfully and say, "And he's probably the most spoiled little thing we could have raised."

Henry's smile widens and he says, "That's your doing."

I narrow my eyes and say, "Yes, that is, but everything else is generally you."

My mother smiled and says, "You poor things, maybe I can take care of him for a week, just let you guys relax and try to wade through whatever you two have to down here."

Milo screeches and we all look over and see James holding him up on his shoulders as Milo grabs James's hair. I sigh and go over and pull Milo off of James's shoulders, he laughs and smiles up at me. I shake my head smiling as well and James says, "I bet you Henry told him to do that."

"I might have, but no one's investing to see." Henry says as he takes Milo from me, Milo lays his head on Henry's shoulder and murmurs. I smile at how he seems to relax in Henry's arms; Henry really was the go to if I couldn't put Milo back to sleep at night.

I smile and we all move out of entryway and towards the small room that I had been busy decorating for Christmas, Milo's first really Christmas with the family considering the fact that Henry and I had begged to spend the last Christmas with him alone.

Henry set Milo down in the room and Milo screamed and ran to Cerberus, who was resting comfortably by the tree. Milo landing on top of the dog and Cerberus raised his large head and started down at Milo with a mixture of what could have been seen as laughter and faint worry. Milo smiled up at him and then Cerberus licked Milo across the forehead, Milo screamed with laughter and touched Cerberus's soft ears with his little hands.

James sat down next to them and Cerberus growled at James and wrapped his neck around Milo, Henry snorted and I could see the faintest of smiles on his lips. I crossed my arms and gave him a look of disagreement. Henry's small smile fell and he sighed then said, "Cerberus that is our guest."

The gray hound narrowed his eyes and then rested his head back down, but he watched James carefully, and seemed to keep an eye on Milo as well. My mother sat down in one of the chairs and says, "You decorated it just like we used to."

I nod and move past Milo moving my hand softly across his hair, he reaches for my hand and I give him one of my fingers. "I wanted I guess a little taste of the past."

Henry sits down facing my mother and says, "It's very similar to Eden Manor."

I roll my eyes playfully and say, "Don't tell me you haven't seen this room, you helped me decorate it recently."

Henry shrugs and rests back his face looked dark and handsome like it always did in low light, and his eyes were at their full glory in this lighting. Milo grabs at Cerberus's ears and pulls slightly, the hound whines and I look down at Milo and say, "Milo, no! We don't pull on ears."

Milo looks up at me with those little blue eyes and then smiles and laughs. I sigh and James says, "He's a little trouble maker like you."

I narrow my eyes and say, "I was never a trouble maker!"

"Oh because almost dying like four times, handing yourself over to Cronus isn't making trouble." James counters, his smile widening he sees how furious his comment has made me. Henry shifts, bad comment for James to make, no one wanted to think back then, especially Henry. I look at him and say, "We all know I had to do what I had to do."

Henry nods tightly and my mother speaks quickly to cover the awkwardness that has settled, "and the decision was a smart one at that, but we can all also agree that it was rash, but it's behind us."

I smile and say, "thank you, it is behind us," I look at James and hiss, "and that's all that matters."

He shrugs and goes back to playing with Milo. I sit next to Henry, who finds a way to slip his arm around my shoulders and hold me close, his hand squeezing my shoulder.

"You guys haven't had any problems with _him_, right?" James questions when he looks up from Milo who has found the inside of James's bag to be absolutely enthralling. I narrow my eyes, Cronus was a delicate subject, Henry and I didn't discuss the fact that I sometimes visited to make sure he was still tightly imprisoned, even though I stated it was to give him company.

"He won't be bothering us for millennia." Whispered Henry to keep the silence from expanding. Milo made a noise inside James's bag as he stood up with the bag covering his head; he stumbled about and eventually found his way to me where he grabbed my leg. I smile and lift the bag off his head and say, "what are you doing in there silly?"

He squeals and then pulls the bag down out of my grip and stumbles back across the room to James who pulls his bag off of Milo's head.


	2. Chapter 2

Milo sits down heavily and James smiles at him. I relax into Henry's arms, Milo was safe, everyone was safe now; Cronus wasn't planning on kicking the door down any time soon, and we were all happy. For now that was good, that was very good.

We all sit in an awkward silence broken only by Milo's soft noises he makes when James tries to roll him over or get his bag back. When the silence reaches an incredibly intense moment my mother sits up straighter and then says, "Walter wants me to be the permanent Queen."

We all look at her and she shifts uncomfortably, she looks at all of us and then Henry breaks first. "That's wonderful Diana!"

James snorts and says, "Try not to go after your daughter too, okay?"

His comment ruins every essence of that moment. I stand and hiss at him, "Outside, in the hallway, right now."

He blinks and when he doesn't stand I grab him by the collar and start to drag him, James protesting all the way out of the room. Milo tilts his head to the side and makes a soft noise as I go to close the door, I smile and whisper in the soft voice I use with him, "it's okay Milo, mommy has to deal with Uncle James for a second."

I slam the door and then flip around on James, he blinks innocently and I hiss, "are you trying to piss Henry off?"

He shrugs and says, "I was just joking, you're the one that's taking it like I'm sticking knifes in your back."

I glare at him and then hiss, "Oh yes, and you just happen to mention everything that makes Henry upset and uncomfortable." I cross my arms and James looks at his nails nonchalantly, I hiss a breath through my teeth and then say, "what? Having nothing to say?"

He looks up and then says, "You really are pale Kate, you need to come up to the surface sometime."

I throw my hands in the air and storm down the hall shouting, "that is so it! I can't take this with you!"

The door opens and Henry slips out, his moonlight eyes narrowed on James and he whispers, "Can I-"

"Right now Henry I need to deal with this." I growl, he seems shocked but it's gone like always, he nods and then slips back inside. I sigh and rub my eyes with the palms of my hands. James sighs and finishes with his nails, he picks at a something on his sweater while I collect myself and when I'm finally done I say, "James, you need to get over the fact that Henry has me and you don't, if you don't get over that-"

"How can I get over that? Seeing you down here isn't good enough!" He shouts, abandoning his sweater. I glare and then hiss, "well James, I'm sorry, you were the one who didn't stop me from going into Eden in the first place."

"Because your mother would have sent a crazy plague of plants and what not to send me into oblivion!" He shouts, his hands shaking as he shoves them in his pockets and he says, "really Kate, you act like it was fate that you met Henry, or have you forgotten that you mom had you for him?"

My face breaks and he narrows his eyes when I don't respond, all sound on the other side of the door stops and I hiss under my breath, "You can leave if you feel that way."

He rolls his eyes and then whispers, "your pushing me away because you're afraid of what you feel with me, you're afraid of becoming Persephone, and you know what I don't think Henry would-"

"You stop right there," I shout and then hiss softly again since they are still listening, "he would care, he'd shatter before my eyes and I can't do that to him."

James grabs my arms and then leans as close to me as he can without kissing me and whispers, "Kate, I can't help what I feel. I know Milo is a barrier here, and you can't leave because of him… but what happened in Greece, I miss that. I miss you."

I pull his fingers off my arms and then walk to the door and open it, I turn to him and with a soft expression I whisper, "You can let yourself out."

He gaps at me as I step back in the room and take Milo into my arms, he murmurs and wraps his arms around my neck. I sit down and Henry takes my hand softly in his own, as Milo slumps down on my chest and yawns. I look at my mom and force as smile as I say, "Right, congratulations, I'm so happy for you."

She raises one of her brows and then whispers, "don't pretend what just happened out there didn't."

Henry's grip on my hand tightens and a wordless caress touches my cheek, I sigh and then feel Milo snuggle deeper into my chest as he makes himself comfortable. I touch his soft dark hair and then whisper, "James just… he just said thing tonight that didn't need to be said."

Henry sighs and inwardly I worry, how much back tracking am I doing right now with him? Milo gurgles and grabs a fistful of my shirt. I look at Henry and rest my head don his shoulder, he rubs my shoulder and kisses my forehead softly. My mom sighs and then says, "Kate, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Besides the fact that James is being an absolute ass lately?" I say as I rub my hand up and down Milo's back, trying to get him to sleep. My mom leans her elbows on her knees and then says, "Kate, watch what you say. James is only a little-"

"James needs to start understanding some things; he needs to mature just the slightest bit." Henry whispers his hand tightening on my shoulders and I shift slightly and disrupt Milo again. My mom sighs and then she places her hands together when Milo stirs and then tries to slide out of my lap. She smiles and Milo toddles his way over to her, grabbing her leg to balance himself he looks up at her and smiles. She smiles as well and then says, "I don't think your mommy and daddy will mind if you open Grandma's present tonight."

Milo's eyes widen and he laughs, trying to climb up into her lap. She pulls him up and then takes the small box she brought. She set's Milo next to her and then puts the box in his lap, his legs are so small through that the box slides to the other side of the couch. My mom laughs and then holds the box for him while he takes the ribbon between his teeth. My mom laughs and then very softly pulls the ribbon off and puts it on Milo's head.

He shrieks and grabs at the ribbon trying to put it back in his mouth. My mom laughs and ties it around his head, he grabs at the bow and for a moment, I can forget about James who has left already, because Milo's laughter in infectious and Henry is truly laughing.

Later on Milo sits on the floor, my mom present set up in front of him. It was a large book with large pictures of farm animals in it. The noises from the book got somewhat annoying since whenever Milo touched one of the animals it made the sound. Eventually Milo took to imitating the cow, mooing on occasion with the book.

We sit off to the side a little bit, discussing small council matters that had come up at one of the recent meetings. My mom sighs and then shaking her head says, "It's strange not having Ava here, then again, you are working towards finding her replacement, right?"

"I've been looking into possible candidates, the tests I'm actually working on with Eric in a few weeks; I just… struggle to find the time." I reply softly, and then look over my shoulder to check on Milo, who is now holding the book up and shaking it, making soft noises as he looked at the pages again.

Henry sighed and then said softly, "I think we should all be looking into this, since Ava was a niece and a sister to us."

I sigh and shake my head, and then reply softly, "I wish it were that way, but the burden is mine to bear, and I will finish what I started."

Henry's brows knit together, two years ago I would have taken that gesture very differently than I did now, now though, after two years of seeing it and knowing him like I do it tells me he's getting overprotective again.

"And you can take that thought out of your mind, Mister god of the dead, I can handle myself perfectly fine." I say as I lean back into the couch and cross my arms. He sighs, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. It had taken me almost a year to realize that he liked my snappy comments; they made him smile even if he tried to hide it.

My mom sits back as well, and then says, "Well, how are things down here? Everything running smoothly?"

I nod and Henry sets his hand on top of mine and replies, "Everything running perfectly, Kate's been a very valuable asset in the rulings."

I roll my eyes and say, "Please, half the time you over rule me."

He smiles and then says, "And eventually your rulings will match mine, for the time being though I have more experience than you."

I shrug and then Milo comes over and grabs Henry's leg, their eyes meet and then Milo lets out a loud moo. He laughs and then falls backwards onto his butt and claps his hands. Henry smiles and then picks Milo up and set his son in his lap. Milo snorts softly and then tries to intimidate a pig. I laugh and make the same noise. He chortles and then claps, happy to have gotten me to play his game. My mom smiles and then says, "I knew the book would be perfect, you used to love those things Kate."

I give her a look that says not to mentions anything I did when I was younger, that was a side of me Henry didn't need to know about. The clueless side of me at Eden Manor was embarrassing enough. Henry looks at me and says, "Really Kate? I didn't think you were interested in things like that."

I give him the same look and then say, "okay sarcasm doesn't work for you."

He smiles and then shifts Milo so that Milo can sit still and eventually go to sleep. Milo yawns eventually and he snuggles deeper into Henry's arms, trying to burrow into Henry's blacks shirt. We all sit in silence for a moment, then Milo nods off, his eyes struggle to stay open until finally he falls asleep. His little mouth open slightly as he breaths in Henry's sent deeply.

My mom smiles and then rises, she pulls her jacket off the chair and then says, "I should be going, they're probably expecting me up at Olympus."

Henry nods and then says, "I'll show you out."

He hands Milo to me and I take him, trying to keep him in the same position Henry had him in. We walk my mom out of the room and then to the door. She smiled and then kisses Milo delicetly on the hair and then gives me a soft kiss on the cheek. She hugs Henry and then waves to us as she walks towards the small crystal area that will take her up to Eden Garden.

When she's gone there's soft sigh and then we turn to see Persephone leaning against one of the pillars, her hair weaved with a few flowers and her simple clothing bring out the suppleness of her look. I shift Milo and say, "Well, didn't see you there."

She smiles, her eyes barely lighting up and she gets up off the pillar, she continues to smile as she comes over and then she says, "James dropped by and said you sent him out, so I came to see what's going on."

I narrow my eyes and say, "What are you really here for?"

She sighs and then moves her hair out of her eyes and then she pulls one of the floors out of her hair and says, "I can to wish you guys a happy Christmas."

"That's very generous of you, but we were just about to put Milo to bed, and then get to bed ourselves." I reply as I shift Milo until he's comfortable again. Persephone smiles and then looks at Henry, the look she gives him sends shivers down my spine and it immediately pushes all the wrong buttons.

Henry slips his arm around my hips, apparently sensing my sudden change of mood towards Persephone. She sighs and then says softly, "I really did come to see what happened with James though, he seemed really upset."

"he got what he deserved." I reply curtly, turning to go inside. She narrows her eyes slightly as I turn and then she says, "Kate, I'm not here for anything else."

I shift Milo again, hoping to actually wake him up so he can cry and give me an excuse to go inside and put him to bed. She sighs again and then says, "never mind I can tell tonight is not a good night. I'll wait until tomorrow."

She turns and disappears as soon as she appeared and when she's gone Henry sighs and then slowly guides us inside, once we're inside I break away and make my way to Milo's room. Henry follows quickly and before I can open the door, he opens it for me and follows me inside.

The room is warm and Milo stirs in my arms and I smile as I lay him down on the small bed. I tuck him into the bed and then sit next to him, running my fingers softly across his forehead; he yawns and then snuggles into his pillow. I smile and move his hair out of his face, the tiny bangs fall right back to their place and he shifts and with his tiny hand he pushes them away. I lean down and kiss his forehead softly before getting up and slipping across the floor to not disturb him. Henry waits with the door open and then I close it slightly, leaving a small gap in case I need to rush in for Milo later tonight or earlier in the morning.

In our room Henry sits on the bed and watches me move about getting ready for bed. When I turn around and start to get into bed I stop, because there is a small box resting on the pillow. I look at Henry with mixed enthusiasm and then say, "Really? You're going to try this?"

He smiles and then sits comfertabtly on the bed, his hands resting in his lap he says, "I thought I should get you a gift, since you got me one."

"I never got you anything Henry, besides, we both agreed this Christmas was going to be able Milo." I reply, as I move the box onto the small night table. He frowns, and for a moment his disappointment is clear on his face, but it's gone just as quickly. I slide into the bed and then look up at him to say, "Don't be like that. I didn't mean any offense Henry, it was very sweet that you got it for me."

He sighs and then lies next to me, pulling me into the curve of his body he whispers, "At least humor me."

I roll my eyes and then roll over to grab the box off the night table. When I roll back over a small light is above us and Henry watches me open the box carefully. I set the wrapping on the side and then open the small box, inside is a small silver chain with a locket on the end. I look up at Henry quizzically and he pulls it out for me, he opens it and holds it up to the light so I can see what's inside.

Inside is small picture, but the depth to it and then slight movements remind me that it's a memory. He slips it into my hands and I look at the tiny little memory of us, Milo curled up in my arms, Henry holding me close, everything seemed to fit together. I look up and then whisper, "Henry, I-I wouldn't have acted the way I did if I knew-"

He cups my neck with his hands and kisses me softly, when he breaks away he whispers, "Your reaction was expected anyway."

I smile and he kisses my forehead before taking the locket and sliding it around my neck. When he's done he whispers, "I love you Kate."

I nod and then whisper, "This is a memory right? It's not a dream?"

He nods and then whispers, "No more dreaming, it's all true now." He pulls me close to him and then rests his head above mine. I curl up in his arms and rest my head on his shoulder, he hugs me close and I can smell him, the musky scent that he has that seemed to cloud my dreams and my mind since the moment we had returned two years ago


	3. Chapter 3

It seemed that the years that passed, flew by, never stopping. Milo grew quicker than we could keep up with, and he seemed to not mind it. He measured himself up to both of us, whether it be running up and placing himself next to Henry and holding his hand up to the top of his head to see how tall he was or doing the same with me. Every so often he would disappear in the house and Henry and I would spend almost three hours zipping back and forth trying to find him.  
Five years passed quickly and Milo turned seven, he seemed to think that was a very large mile stone, because he had come running into the throne room right before Henry was about to open us up to souls. He'd climbed up into my throne and had sat himself there and had said, "I'm seven now!"  
We'd laughed with him and he'd been allowed to stay with us while we judged, mostly he'd sat on the small steps where I could watch him while he flipped through another book he'd received on Christmas of that year, and he'd read it over ten times.  
Henry took my hand and gave it a squeeze, I smile at him and he leans over to whisper to me, "You take this one. I think you've got the expertise for it."  
I nod and he releases my hand, the soul before us crosses her arms and says, "I don't see how I can still be punished if the agreement was I stay for the time it was in which my crime took place. It was three years, and three years is up tomorrow."  
"What was the price that the crime paid?" I reply softly, she rolls her eyes and says, "it was just a simple thing, no one got hurt-"  
"Can you look me in the eye and tell me no one was hurt? Whether it is unintentionally or intentionally?"  
Her mouth falls open and she straightens her shoulders and says, "People were hurt, but they were never meant to get hurt."  
I nod and then close my eyes and think deeply, she should be punished for hurting other people's lives, problem with that theory was that they were never meant to be hurt. I sigh and massage my eyes with my finger tips, I could see why Henry never looked forward to this part of his job. I look back at the soul and say, "Something in your story isn't making sense. You say that people got hurt, how were they hurt?"  
"Well, I mean some people were killed… but it was only like two-"  
"Unfortunately that is two souls to many. How did they get killed?" I reply, she stiffens and then says, "They were shot by mistake."  
Something tips it being a lie, I narrow my eyes and say, "Really? Someone was shot by mistake when you said you were a part of an organization that dealt with only targeting single people."  
Her mouth opens and I look at Henry, he nods slightly, I sigh and look back at the soul to say, "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you, for now the previous ruling stands, you have at most three more weeks to deal with your punishment, until then, you will follow the rules of the previous ruling."  
She snorts and then vanishes, I rest my head in my hand and say, "next time let's pick someone I don't feel bad for."  
Henry snorts under his breath and then says, "I don't think that's possible. "  
Milo looks up at Henry and says, "What does 'persevere' mean?" He blinks expectantly waiting for one of us to answer his question and Henry smiles softly and says, "When one perseveres, one achieves something, you fight hard for something and you succeed, you perceiver."  
Milo's head tilts to side slightly and he narrows his eyes and says, "What's an example?" His comment takes Henry off guard and I smile at Milo and say, "well," I tap his nose with my index finger and say, "we persevered by bringing you home."  
Milo blinks and then says, "How though? You guys only tell me parts of that story, you never tell me the beginning or the middle, you just say that daddy got hurt and then he came back and the council fought and you guys won. But you never say how you guys won, or who you guys were fighting."  
I look at Henry, biting my lip, we should have known he would get curious one day. Henry leans forward to look at Milo and says, "I'm sorry Milo, but that story's not ready to be told yet. When you're older then we'll tell you the whole story."  
Milo's lower lip slides out slightly and he crosses his arms in his frustration. I sigh and move his dark hair slightly as I whisper, "We don't want to keep it from you, someday you'll know, I promise-"  
The doors into the hall were thrown open and a small form came running towards us. I stand and Henry does as well. Milo looks up at us and then Eric stops in front of us. He bows hastely to us and then gives Milo a small nod, I walk down the steps and whisper, "Eric, what's wrong?"  
He swallows, catches his breath and then says, "a council meeting has been called, I was sent to make you two aware."  
Henry narrows his eyes and I nod to him. "I'll see you up there Henry, tell them I'm coming and that I'll be there as soon as-"  
"You can't, they need the entire council there right now!" Eric says, his eyes widening, Milo looks up and Cerberus's head rises from his paws and he growls softly and moves towards Milo. I look away for a moment debating and then Henry says, "we don't have a choice Kate."  
I nod, and hold my finger up for silence so I can think carefully. He sighs and then moves over towards Milo. I look back and Eric and say, "they'll have to deal with Milo then."  
I turn around and I hold my hand out to Milo, he takes it with a smile since he knows we're about to appear in the throne room of Olympus. He seemed to like the way Henry and I traveled, he called it zapping, and he had said over and over again when we tucked him in at night that he was going to be able to do it someday.  
His hand grasps mine and I nod to Eric, my eyes close and then we're there, the room is alive with shouts. Milo grabs the back of my sweater with his hand, surprised by the sudden change of mood and sound. Henry appears next to us, he takes his seat and I sit in my own, then nod at Milo to sit down near my feet. He sits cross legged on the floor and I slowly run my fingers across his hair, trying to sooth him after his surprise. No one seems to notice our arrival but James, he gives me a short glance, and then he looks away. Obviously he still hasn't forgiven me for what happened five years ago. I snort slightly and say softly, "Remind me why we had to pop in here as quickly as we did, and no one seems to notice even the air we breathe?"  
He looks at me and replies with a smile, "Since when has it ever been different?" I look down at Milo who seemed to have calmed enough to start reading his book. He'd been in this room maybe twice with me, once at my mothers coronation, and second during two Christmases ago when we had spent it here with my mom.  
She looks over and sees us and gives me a tired smile, I nod to her and Milo gives her a small wave and a smile, at least he knows better than to shout across the circle to her.  
He jerks back against my legs though when James stands up and shouts something, I put a steadying hand on Milo's shoulder and then whisper, "It's okay Milo, no one's going to hurt you." I know I don't sound very reassuring, if anything were to happen though, then I would have Milo out of the room before Henry even thought to get him out.  
The room suddenly went deathly quiet and James still was staning, his hands balled into fist, then Ireane sees me and says, "Kate! We were just discussing an idea for a possible girl to replace Ava."  
Her forced smile and tight nod to me suddenly makes me the spot light in the meeting. Everyone's eyes are on me and I shift shocked at the quick change in mood and then say, "Yes… about that, who is this? Henry and I just got here."  
My mom smiles softly, a mother correcting a child again, and then says, "Actually, James seems to think he's found an adequate replacement."  
I look at James and then say though a tight voice, "James never brought this before me-" I'm cut off by James's harsh glare and then he growls, "Yeah, well we all know how you are towards me these days."  
Milo presses against my legs and I say softly, "James, will you put that behind you and tell me who this girl is so that I can look into her? Eric and I actually have about three other girls we've been looking at for the past three years."  
My mom smiles and then says, "Wonderful! Problems solved-"  
"No, problem not solved!" James shouts and then he storms across the floor to me, Henry's almost out of her throne but I beat him to it. James stands over me and I glare at him and spit, "You stop right there. You come anywhere near Milo like this and I'll personally, take you immortality and you can spend the rest of your eternity in Tartus with Chronus."  
He freezes and then leans down so our eyes have no choice but to meet, and then says softly, "You wouldn't do that. You're not like anyone here Kate, I think you've forgotten a lot about what happened seven years ago."  
"No James, I'm trying to forget, because I want to move on." I whisper. I turn away from him then and then sit back down in my throne, he stands there just looking at me, broken it seems. I narrow my eyes and then says, "One of the girls name's is Jessy, she lives in Oregon, I have a high level of faith in her. She's about seventeen years old, so she'll have time to grow into the role, yet she's lived enough of her life-"  
"Like you? Did you live enough of your life Kate?"  
I decide to ignore James's comment and continue, "Another girl is named Rachel, she lives in England, Eric has been following her for the past few months and she's showing amazing promise. She's about sixteen, of course that means we can wait another year or so to prepare the-"  
"Like what we did Kate? We waited your whole life."  
I narrow my eyes and take deep breath and the Henry touches my shoulder softly, I ignore James one more time even though it takes all my will power.  
"And of course we can't forget the first girl we looked into, she's the most promising, her name is Callie, and she moves about a lot, so therefore she knows the life style most of us have, she also is a little ove r twenty, so she's old enough that she would be able to accept all this-"  
"Maybe we should have waited until then, you could have made a more level headed decision."  
I snap out of my throne and James's eyes widen and I advance on him and place and open palmed shove to his chest. Dylan grabs me around the waist and I shove him away to shout at James.  
"You are a psychotic bastard! Get a life James, stop trying to intrude on mine and change who I am! You leave me, Milo and Henry alone! I'm so I didn't choose you, but you know what, maybe it's a good thing I didn't!"  
He straightens up and then spits, "I can give you ten great reasons why I'm better than Henry!" His hands curls into fists and I laugh as I put my hands on my hips and reply sarcastically, "Oh really James? Go ahead and shoot!"  
By then the rest of the council is between us, and Henry has pulled me backwards, he whispers softly in my ear and Milo pulls on the bottom of my sweater whispering to me as well.  
"Number one! You wouldn't have had to wait almost six months to know that I loved you!" Dylan punches James in the gut and a whoosh of air comes out of James's mouth as he struggles to catch his breath Theo and Ella drag him out of the council room. When the doors close behind Ella and Theo my mother moves a stand hair out of her face and then says, "Well, I'm glad that was settled so quickly."


	4. Chapter 4

We arrive back in the underworld and Milo runs to catch Pogo who is bouncing down the hallway. Henry watches Milo with me for a moment before pulls me away whispering that Milo would be just fine for a few moments.

I try to pull away saying that Milo would only be interested with Pogo for a few minutes, but Henry pulls me into his arms and looks deep into my eyes, giving me that look he had given me that night before I'd been captured. It sent shivers down my spine and then he smiles and leans close to me; those moonlight eyes sparking something inside of me.

For a moment we're silent, just looking into each other's eyes and then he whispers to me, "You should learn to control that temper Kate."

I roll my eyes, daring to smile, after all if he starts kissing me the argument I have will go to hell. He leans slightly closer and then his lips trace my jaw up to my lips, I smile tightly and whisper to him, "Henry, if Milo walks in on this then you're doing the explaining."

"I'll take my chances." He whispers and he kisses the side of my mouth, his lips warm against my skin, and his hands press into my hips, and then hug me to him. I laugh softly and then say, "stop it Henry, I need to stay mad just a little longer."

He smiles as well and then kisses me, I close my eyes and obediently shut up so he can do whatever it is he's doing. His lips trace my lips lightly, the burning still doesn't stop, and when he's done with my lips he moves to my cheek, which is followed by my jaw right below my ear. I wrap my arms around his neck and then whisper into his shoulder, "I'm so tired of all this drama."

He sighs and then says, "later, we'll talk about this later." His arms slide to hug my back, and then Milo's voice says behind us, "Pogo went outside again."

I let go of Henry and turn around to see Milo holding the collar that pogo wore. I smile tenuously and say, "How about me and you go get him then?"

Milo smiles and then starts back towards the door which he opens. I follow him back outside and he runs down the path shouting for Pogo. I follow a little slower and when I'm about halfway to the portal up to Eden Manor, Pogo comes hopping out of the darkness. Yipping and barking, Milo flips around and runs back up the path. I pick Pogo up and then bend down so Milo can squeeze Pogo's collar around the dog's head. Pogo whines as I carry him back up the path, I smile and then whisper, "Oh quiet, I'll take it off again later."

When we get up to the doors I open them for Milo and he slips inside followd by Pogo, who's slipping all the way down the hallway after Milo. I sigh another tired smile on my face as I close the doors behind me and follow Milo to make sure he doesn't do anything silly and get hurt.

(/)

That night Milo sits in my lap, he had a cowboy hat on and his favorite stuffed animal squeezed tightly in his arms. I turn the page of the book and then Milo says, "Can I ride a horsie someday?"

I smile and say, "maybe, if you're a good boy." I nuzzle his neck and he screams in laughter. He squirms away from me and then rolls over to the other end of the bed. He makes a growling sound and says, "I'm a tiger, rahh!"

He stands up and holds his hands up above his head and roars again. I laugh and pull him into my arms, he laughs and then says, "pop! I'm gone!"

I smile and tickle his belly. He laughs and tries to squirm away from me. I laugh as well and when I stop he's still giggling, and his hat has slipped down past his eyes. He lifts it up and then Pogo comes running into the room, yipping he leaps up onto the bed and starts to lick Milo's cheek. Milo keeps laughing ad through his gasps for breath shouts, "Pogo! No Pogo no!"

Eventually Pogo calms down and Milo stops laughing long enough to let out a long yawn. I smile and then say, "Alright, it's time for this little tiger to go to sleep."

He yawns again as I lay him down on the bed and then take his hat off. I get up and then help him under the blankets. He comes up from under the blankts and snuggles into the bed, I hang his hat up on the bed post and he reaches at the foot of the bed for his stuffed animal. I smile and then hand him the stuffed animal, he hugs it close to him and then says, "where did daddy go?"

I sit on the edge of the bed next to him and then say, "Daddy had to go talk to somebody, he'll be back soon though."

Milo nods and then I smooth his bangs out of his face, they fall right back in thier place and I kiss Milo's forehead as I get up. I reach over and then turn the lamp on his nightside table off.

He pulls the blankets up to his chin and then I smile and whisper, "It's alright if you get scared you can always come into my room and sleep in there with me."

He nods and then I walk to the door, as I'm about to close it behind me he says, "Mommy? Can you leave it open a little bit?"

I smile and the nod, I leave the door open and then leave the light in the hallway on for him. His little face watched mine from the bed and then Cerberus wiggles his way into the room and leaps up on the bed with Milo. I smile and whisper, "See? Cerberus will protect you if anything happens."

The grey hound had really taken a liking to Milo, in fact, the dog had to go everywhere with Milo, or else he got really upset and would whine until Milo got back.

I give Milo one more smile and then leave to go to my room. Pogo follows me, sadly, Pogo still favored to follow me around, maybe it was because he'd really only known me and Henry since he was a puppy.

The room was slightly dark and I frowned as I moved around trying to find the light switch I turned it on and Pogo leaped up onto the bed. I smiled as I went into the closet and pulled my top off. I slipped out of my pants and grabbed a nightshirt that I'd grown accustomed to.

When I come out the lights darker and Pogo is no where to be found. I feel a smile tug at my lips and I whisper, "Nice try Henry, you're going to have to do better than that to get me to do anything tonight."

When no one responds I feel a frown tug at my lips, usually if I say something like that then Henry gives up and responds, but the silence is suffocating.

There's a rustling and then I flip walk into the room, seriously, what was Henry doing?

When I come into the bathroom Henry is standing there and he's turned away from me. I smile coyly and then say, "What are you doing?"

He glances at me and then looks away quickly. "It's nothing Kate, I'll be in bed soon, just go."

I narrow my eyes and then walk into the bathroom, he hasn't been like this in almost seven years. I touch his arm and he pulls away, that's when I know something is really wrong. I slip in front of him and then gasp ad cover my mouth. He's holding a cloth over a wound in his chest that is practically gushing blood. I grab his hands and pull the towel away long enough to begin panicking. The wound is deep, much too deep to be anything I shouldn't worry about.

"Henry? What in Hell's name happened to you!" I can't help but shout, Milo's probably awake now, and curious. I cover my mouth again and Henry whispers harshly, "I'm fine, Theo's on his way now."

"That doesn't matter! Henry you're bleeding out right now!" I grab another towel and wet it slightly as I switch the othr towel out and then I help Henry out of the bathroom and to the bed. He grunts as he lays down, I curse Theo for being slow and then slowly help Henry pull his shirt off which is soaked in blood. I toss it into the sink and then grab another towel. I wet it down and then carry it back into the other room. When I come in, Milo is standing in the doorway, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. I curse under my breath and leave the towel next to Henry. I turn around and the grab milo then carry him out of the room.

"What's wrong with daddy? Is daddy going to die?!" Milo's little voice cries out in panic and I'd really wished I'd kept my voice down when Henry got here. I shake my head and say, "daddy cant die Milo, he'll be just fine."

Milo's terrified though of the blood and the way Henry's just lying in the bed, pale and still. I carry milo into his room and I'm surprised to see my mother standing there. She smiles at milo and says, "it's alright Milo, I've got you honey."

Milo starts crying in her arms and I mouth a thank you to my mother. She smiles at me again, but it's the kind of smile where she's hiding fury and frustration. I blink and she sighs then and starts cooing to milo again.

I leave and practically run into Theo in the hall, his skin is ashy and pale in the light and that only means bad news. I choke and then run back into my room, I don't carry what anyone else thinks, I'm not ready to see Henry fade and leave me all alone with milo, I'm not ready to see James take over in Henry's place.

When I come in the room, Henry's lying there still, the blood has stopped for the most part and he opens his eyes slightly when he sees me. A tiny smile tugs at his lips and he whispers, "I apologize for the way I spoke to you earlier-"

"You keep your mouth shut and keep breathing." I hiss, he blinks softly and then I kiss his forehead, trying to soften my words and show him I'm only speaking like that because I'm terrified to lose him. He nods and then stops immediately, obviously it hurt to much to even do that.

I run my hand softly across his hair and then say, "Who did this?" I look deep into his eyes, so far my ability to detect lies had been very faulty, but I was prepared to know the truth with Henry.

He sighs and closes his eyes, his face has a little more color now, that's a good sign to me. I shake my head and then say, "never mind, you can tell me when your better, for now though, forget I'm even here and just go to sleep."

He opens his eyes and then tries to speak but I give him that tiny glare that he gets when I think I know what I'm talking about and I don't want him to go against me since it'll probably worry me even more. I lay down next to him and whisper in his ear softly, "Please Henry, I'm only going to sleep if you do."

He snorts under his breath because he knows I'm lying right through my teeth. I roll my eyes and then rest my head on his shoulder, think better of it, and then decide to pull up a chair and sit next to the bed so I can keep a better eye on him.

He watches me sit down and then he says, "Kate-"

"What did I say about talking? It'll probably reopen the gash or something."

He sighs a tiny smile returning to his lips as he says, "at least grab a blanket or something, just in case you fall asleep."

Leave it to Henry to think about my comfort when he's lying on the bed, still bleeding from a chest wound that I still have no idea how he got. I cross my arms across my chest and promise. He relaxes and then closes his eyes. I get up and go to check on Milo.

My mother has Milo in bed, but his eyes are wide open and he's firing questions at her like he might forget them all the moment their in his mind. He sees me and then shouts to me. I walk over and he says, "Is daddy okay? Grandma says she doesnt know and she won't tell me!"

"Daddy's fine Milo, he's sleeping now, so you need to be quiet." I whisper as I sit down on the bed's edge. Milo's eyes widen and he reasons, "But you always say dad sleeps like a rock so how can he hear me if he sleeps like a rock?" Milo's little voice is full of panic and worry and I sigh. The trick to calming Milo was to stay as calm as possible and try to explain the situation to him.

"Daddy's fine, he just got hurt Milo. He's fine now though. And I never say that about him." I reach out and touch his arm softly. Milo nods but I can tell he's not satisfied with my response, but he'll have to be, since telling him the truth could scare him to no end.

My mother nods and we wait with Milo until he's calm enough and he eventually falls asleep again. I leave the door open and hope that nothing wakes him up again.

We both stand out in the hallway for a few minuts before my mom says, "well, talk about a handful."

I roll my eyes but a tiny smile creeps to my lips, she doesn't even know the half of it. We're silent again until she speaks once more, "Kate honey, you can't get mad when Henry tells you what happened."

"What do you- Wait, you know who did this to him?" I can't help it, my voice is hard and unforgiving. There she goes again, keeping things from me because of how she thinks I will towards the news.I narrow my eyes at her and cross my arms , trying to get her to tell me what's going on.

She sighs and then says, "he doesn't know what happened, whoever attacked him flashed in, cut him, and then flashed out. He doesn't know who it was."

I frown and then say, "You promise you're not lying to me?" I cross my arms and stare at her intently. She sighs and then replies, "Kate, you're much more careful than you were seven years ago. Your mature and sure in what you do, I'm not ever going to lie to you again."

I nod for once satisfied that everything being told to me was true. She pulls me into hug, one that I hadn't expected, but received anyway. When she pulls away she says, "I love you very much Kate."

I smile and then whisper, "Me too." For a minute I'm shocked by the tremble in my voice, but then I realize how real that made what I was saying. She pulls me into a hug again and then whispers, "Alright, Henry's waiting for you to come back."

She lets go of me and then wipes wetness out of her eyes, I smile at her action and then say, "You can stay the night you know. It would help me just in case Milo wakes up again."

She smiles and then says, "I'll stay to help you with Henry too." She loops her arm in mine and then pulls me down the hallway to my bedroom. As she goes to open the door she says, "By the way, that is an adorable outfit to wear to bed."

I glance down at my night clothes, the mid-thigh dress which has thin straps and almost no coverage of my body. I narrow my eyes at her and say, "Don't ask, Ava put it in there and I happened upon it one day. Henry dared me to wear it and I've worn it to bed ever since."

She smiles and then says, "And I can see why he dared you to wear it." She closes the door behind me and Henry shifts on the bed and says, "Dared her to wear what?"

I smile and then say, "Oh nothing Henry, we were just joking, go on back to sleep."

The look he gives me was probably supposed to be a smile, but it turned into a grimace of worry and pain.


	5. Chapter 5

Henry slowly recovered and we didn't speak about what had happened. I had a feeling he already knew that my mother had told me about what happened that night. We almost skittered around the topic though, like it was hot coals and if either on of us stepped on them we would burn ourselves.

A week after Henry had completely recovered, Milo stated he wanted to go to the beach. Henry and I had been sitting in our room talking softly just playing catch up like we sometimes did, when Milo had come in, walked right up to us and said, "I want to go to the beach."

We'd blinked in surprise and then Henry had questioned Milo on why and when we should go. Milo answered in the best way his seven year old brain could, with because and now.

Which led to us now, me helping Milo pack a few things in a bag and Henry just watching, observing really. I glared at him every so often and then helped Milo put something in the bag. He throws a pail and a small plastic shovel, he tries to pack his blanket in the bag and when I pull it out he starts to whine. I spread it back out on the bed and then say, "Milo, this is your bed blanket, daddy already packed a blanket," I look over at Henry and he slips into the hallway since he obviously didn't pack the straw mat and blanket that I told him to pack ten minutes ago, "and you don't want to get sand in it."

Milo crosses his arms and then says, "But I want to bring my blanket." He narrows his eyes at me and I say, "Milo, you don't want your blanket to have sand in it do you?"

He blinks and then says, "No," he fidgets and then tries to stuff his stuffed animal into his bag. I sigh and then say, "Milo, honey, how about he stays here? He can get dirty too."

Milo hugs the animal to his chest and then says, "But I promised him an adventure!"

"You guys had an adventure yesterday in mommy and daddy's closet." I say as close Milo's bag and go to open the door. Milo hugs the thing to his chest and then looks up at me with big eyes. I sigh and say, "Milo, you can't give me that face every single time I don't let you have something."

His lower lips slides out and his eyes start to water. I clutch the door knob and feel it bend slightly in my grip, I'm trying desperately not to give into Milo right now, but he's winning and he knows it.

I let go of the door knob before I break it and then say, "Fine Milo, but you have to wash him if he gets dirty."

Milo's face lights up, and he smiles as I let him pass by me. Henry's waiting at the end of the hall, and as I look at him I realize something, Henry's not the first person I would see going to the beach with me and Milo. As Milo runs to the doors, Pogo and Cerberus right behind him, I look at Henry and say, "You're not going to like shrivel up in the sun right?"

He gives me a strange look at says, "Not that I know of."

I frown and say carefully, "You've never been to the beach, have you?"

"And you have Kate?" His tone is meant to tease, but it makes me slightly uneasy about the whole thing.

"I've seen my fair share of beaches, it's you I'm worried about. It's sun, sand, grueling heat sometimes and water." I say as give him a softer look, trying to show him how worried I really am. He smiles and says, "Let's see, I've been in the sun before and I've been just fine. I've sat in sand before, I'll mark that off my list. I've traveled through caravans that reach hundreds of degrees-"

"Alright Mister God, I get the picture." I scoff as I follow Milo to the door. Henry reaches out and takes my hand tightly in his own and then says, "Will you be okay?"

"Henry, the water and me shall be on different sides of this freakin' planet." I say as I start walking again. He sighs and then slides his arm around my waist as we walk, I give him a smile an he says, "then let's do this."

We picked the smallest, quietest beach we could both think of. Milo laughed as he ran down to the water, clothes, stuffed animal and all. I cry out and take off after him, catching him just before the water's edge, he laughs and starts shouting, "water! Water!"

I sigh and carry him back up to Henry and very gently pull Milo's shirt over his head and then say, "You need to leave him up here, he can watch you from up here."

Milo sets his stuffed animal next to me and then starts running again, his laugh turning to a screech when he realizes how cold the water is. Henry sits next to me and says, "Kate, I've been wondering about something."

I look at him, usually Henry didn't start important conversations like this. I blink and then say, "what?"

He looks at me closely and then says, "How are we going to explain everything to Milo? Like how you and I don't seem to age, how when he should get hurt, nothing happens and why-"

"Henry, why are you thinking about this now?" I ask, my hand reaching out to his. He frowns and then says, "I don't know, I think I'm worried about how Milo will take the whole thing."

I roll my eyes and say, "How bad could it be? Henry, I think most kids would think it was kind of cool that his dad was a Greek god, and not like a fake one, but the honest-to-God King of the Underworld."

Henry frowns and says, "and what do we say about you?" He gives me that look that says I left out an important part of the whole puzzle. I shrug and then hold his hand up so I can trace the veins. "We tell him the whole story. We can't exactly keep it from him forever Henry."

He sighs and then covers my hand with his own, and he whispers, "You surprise me everyday, you know that though I'm sure."

I smile and then kiss him softly, when I pull away I whisper, "And I plan to keep it that way."

He smiles and I lean back onto my elbows to watch Milo run in and out of the waves. We're both quiet for a few minutes until he says, "James contacted me yesterday, he says he needs to speak to you about something urgent."

I roll my eyes again and blow a stray strand of my hair away from my face, Henry watches me for a moment and I glare up at the sky before saying, "I don't get him sometimes. I need like a James dictionary. Kind of like I needed one for you."

Henry smiles and moves my hair away from my eyes and says, "James doesn't require such an in depth one as I did. His actions and emotions are unfortunately right where everyone can see them."

I sigh and then lay my head in his lap, Henry slowly runs his fingers through my hair, pulling the strands out from behind my shoulders. I look up at him and he says, "I on the other hand, sometimes need some help in that category."

He looks pained for a moment before I say, "Henry, don't change the way you are. I love the way you are, you share your most privet emotions when you feel it's right and I should have known and expected that from the moment I said yes after passing the tests."

Henry smiles and then bends down to kiss the tip of my nose. I smile and laugh softly when he pulls away. I close my eyes and feel the soft breeze blow through my hair, when I open my eyes Henry is watching the horizon intently and I whisper, "it's summer right now."

He nods and I whisper, "I'm not going anywhere Henry."

"That's not what I'm thinking about." He whispers as he takes my hand tightly in his own. I frown and whisper, "What then Henry? If it's something your not ready to talk about then tell me."

He sighs and looks down at me and then says, "kate, have you ever wondered what might happen to us in next eons?"

I blink and then say, "Not really, but I can guess. We'll still be together, you'll have finally let me have my way in more than half the rulings, and Milo will have brothers and sisters-"

"Kate, you won't ever leave right?" He whispers, I look up at him and see him looking down at me with that slightly fearful expression he used to get when I said Persephone was coming to see Milo. I push myself up and then whisper, "You're my eternity Henry, I could never love anyone as much as I love you." I kiss him and he wraps his hand around my neck, pressing my lips harder against his.

He lays back on the straw mat and pulls me closer to him, his other hand sliding down my back to rest on my lower back. I smile and then whisper, "careful Henry, Milo can see all of this."

Henry snort softly and then pulls my lips back to his own. I can feel that burning from his hand coming through my shirt and onto the skin of my back. When I pull away I rest my head on his chest and he slides his hand up to wrap his arm around my shoulder. I smile and take his other hand in my own, I loved Henry in moments like this, he knew just when to stop, and when to keep going.

A couple of minutes later I sigh and whisper, "what's Milo up to?"

"Digging holes in the sand." He replies as he goes back to running his fingers through my hair. Sure enough when I glance down at Milo he's crouching down near the water line and is digging holes. I smile and then shout, "Find anything Milo?"

He looks up and then says, "I'm digging to China!" He goes back to digging and then shouts, "Then you and daddy will have to go down the hole with me!"

I smile and then whisper to Henry, "if he falls then you're going to get him."

Henry smiles and then shouts, "Milo, come up here and get your mom to come help you."

Milo's eyes light up and I hiss, "Henry, you bastard."

Henry smiles as Milo runs up and pulls on my arm, I sigh and then get up and follow Milo back down. On my way down I kick some sand back at Henry, he shouts and then coughs since I managed to get some in his mouth.

Milo laughs as he runs back down to his holes, Henry gets up and follows us, he grabs me around my middle and spins me around. I scream in laughter and Milo laughs as he runs back to us, he starts spinning in circles next to us and when I'm on my feet and Henry has to hold me because I'm out of breath, Milo falls down in the sand. He's lying on his back and laughing, his face is bright red and he says "I'm dizzy!"

I laugh and then bend down to pick him up, he wraps his arms around my neck and I carry him up to the blanket. I set him down on it and he lays back his face slowly returning to it's normal color. As soon as he's better he gets up and goes back down to fix his holes which have filled with water. I go down with him and go down on my knees to help him dig the holes back out. Henry joins us eventually and the three of us dig. When the hole is deep enough Milo climbs in and then a wave crashes into his hole and soaks him. He shrieks and then scampers out of the hole, soaking me and Henry. He laughs and Henry chases him out until their both knee deep in the water.

I sit back on the sand, Milo looks at me and smiles his little face begs for me to come join them. I keep smiling as I stand and walk until I'm ankle deep. Milo laughs as he runs to me and I splash him, he splashes me back and the three of us end up chasing each other through the water splashing until we're all soaking wet and gasping for breath.

We spent the whole day at the beach, laughing and playing, Milo played until he stumbled up to the blanket and curled up next to me. He closes his eyes and then whispers, "thank you mommy."

I smile and move his wet hair away from his eyes, he yawns and I pull my jacket off and then place it on top of him. I pick him up and Henry grabs everything, it vanishes and I know that it' waiting for us back home. Milo wraps his arms around my neck and rests his head in the crook between my shoulder and neck.

Henry wraps his arm around my waist and the beach vanishes, it's replaced by the entrance hall of the manor. Milo mumbles in his sleep and I shift him slightly, one of his arms slips from it's grip and hangs limply behind my back.

I smile as I carry Milo to his room, once we're inside I set Milo on his bed and pull his swim trunks off. He shifts and Henry holds him while I pull the blankets back. Henry lays Milo down softly and I pull the blankets up and Milo whispers something softly. I smile and then lean forward, I kiss his forehead softly and his little hand curls into a fist. Henry touches my lower back softly with his hand and I straighten up. He walks out of the room with me and when we're out of the room and in the hallway Henry whispers, "I realized something very interesting."

I smile and raise a brow as I push him up against the wall playfully, he wraps an arm around my lower back and pulls me to him.

"Yes, I noticed that it's your birthday tomorrow." He whispers as he pulls my lips to his own, I narrow my eyes and before he can kiss me I whisper, "I don't have birthday's anymore, I've decided to forget how old I am, just like you." I tap his nose and pull away. He narrow his eyes playfully and pulls me back to him, his eyes full of an emotion I don't quite know what to call. He smiles and says, "One more birthday then."

I raise my brow and he picks me up in his arms, I laugh as he carries me to the bed room. He set me on the bed and then kisses me. I smile as I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips to his. His hand slide up the back of my shirt and holds me closer to him.

Eventually I slip my shirt over my head and he smiles when he sees he's getting exactly what he wants. I undo his shirt softly, little by little until he does it himself and then kisses me again. We roll away from the center and miscalculate how far we are from the end of the bed; we fall clean off the bed and onto the floor. I cry out softly and he laughs before kissing me again


	6. Chapter 6

Silently, almost like a shadow Henry slipped over me, his arm pulling me close to him, as if we weren't hopelessly entangled already. I kissed his collarbone softly and he whispered softly in my ear, his voice almost lulling me off to sleep.

For a moment we were close, so close in fact I was surprised we didn't bleed into one another. His fingers knot into my hair and he whispers soft affectionate words in my ear. His lips trace my jaw and then he rests them on my hair line. For a moment we breath each other in and just sit in each other's arms, then he runs his fingers down my side until his arms drapes loosely around my hips.

I sigh and then rest my head on his shoulder, his head rests above my own and I whisper, "Henry?"

He murmurs that he's listening, I sigh and then say, "I love you Henry, I love you so much it makes me sick."

He chuckles and then kisses my forehead softly again, his lips slide down and he whispers, "Then I must be permanently ill."

I smile and he holds me even closer. I snuggle deep into his arms and then let out a sigh as I finally start falling asleep, even though it's almost three in the morning.

In the morning we both regret staying up until three, milo's wide awake and ready for the day around six, and Henry and I are still sleeping. It most certainly was not our best move.

Henry was up first, which gave me the incentive to get up a few minutes after him, Milo was running around the kitchen throwing what ever his hands could grab on the counter. When I come in Milo's holding the pan and he smiles as he holds it up to me. I take it and then put everything I don't need back in its place before actually settling in to make Milo breakfast.

"Can I have chocolate in my eggs?"

"No Milo."

"Can I have whip cream in my eggs?"

"Maybe another time Milo."

That was the usual morning, Milo asking the same questions getting the same answers, it was usually a good start every morning.

Henry moves about behind me, his fingers brushing my lower back every so often as he tried to pull my attention away from my hands. When he slips up behind me and wraps his arms around my hips I say, "Henry, I have a knife right now and I'm not afraid to use it."

He smiles and gives me a light kiss on the cheek, his grip tightening around my waist, then he's gone chasing Milo around. I roll my eyes and then continue to cut up an orange for Milo. He stops running behind the counter, giggling as Henry stops on the other side, Milo watches him over the top of the counter for a second before he grabs one of the orange slices and takes off again.

Henry tries to grab him but Milo slips by and takes off down the hall, laughing and screaming the while time. Cerberus starts after him in the hallway with Pogo chasing as well, yipping the whole way. Henry follows their little parade into the hallway, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

I sigh, shaking my head while continuing to cut the orange, Milo returns and slips inside one of the lower cabinets and closes the door behind him, I can see his little blue eyes looking up at me,waiting for me to give away his hiding place so he can run again. I smile and put my finger up to my lips, signaling my silence to him.

He smiles and moves farther back into the cupboard until I can't see him anymore. A few seconds later Henry's in the kitchen, Cerberus stops right behind him and Pogo goes on bouncing along until he's next to him. Henry looks around and then catches my silent motions with my eyes to the cupboard near me.

He smiles and starts opening the cupboards nearest to him, calling Milo's name all the while. Milo stifles a giggle in his cupboard and I can hear him moving around inside. He opens the cupboard slightly and peeks out to check how far away Henry is, when Henry looks over his shoulder slightly Milo closes the cupboard and disappears back into his hiding place.

Henry smiles and moves behind me, I can see Milo watching me and Henry, waiting to see what Henry does. Quietly Henry wides his hand around my hip and says, "Milo's missing."

"Isn't he always?" I reply as I reach forward and open the cabinet. Henry reaches in quickly and pulls a screaming Milo out. Henry smiles and says, "Oh look I found him."

"Down! Put me down!" milo screeches as he tries to wiggle out of Henry's grip. Henry sets him down and Milo grabs my waist and clings to it. I sigh and try to turn around and grab something.

"Milo, honey, you need to let go of mommy." I instruct as I grab a fork for Milo to eat his eggs with. He shakes his head and his grip tightens around my waist. I sigh once more and then say, "Milo if you don't let go then you won't be able to eat breakfast."

He frowns as he contemplates this for a second, then he lets go. I smile as I put the plate with his breakfast up on the counter. He slinks past Henry who smiles and ruffles Milo's hair. Milo murmurs as he pushes his hair back down, his blue eyes narrowed in seven year old frustration.

I smile and Henry wraps his arms back around my hips and rests his chin on my shoulders. He shifts slightly and whispers in my ear, "We can always let your mom take care of Milo today. We haven't done anything like last night in a long time, and I'm very much looking forward to a little more..."

I roll my eyes and then turn my head slightly to kiss the side of his mouth. When I finish I reply just as softly, "If we do that, then you have to explain to my mom why she is taking care of Milo."

He smiles and I can feel his lips kissing the side of my neck his arms hugging me tight pressing his body closer to mine, I smile coyly and then whisper, "I'm serious, you will do the explaining."

"Gladly." He replies just as softly, his hands trying to snake higher up and under my shirt. I rest my hands on his and then whisper, "Not right now."

(/)

later that morning we left Milo with my mother, she seemed surprised by our visit and we spent about half an hour talking to her about small things, before Henry's thoughts nudged me away and towards our room in the Underworld.

My mom looks over her shoulder for a moment, checking on Milo, then she turns back and says, "And it's only for today?" Her voice is very suspicious and I smile as I say, "we have a lot to do today, and we thought today was as good as day as any for him to be around you."

She nods, but that suspicion still doesn't leave her eyes as she says, "okay, well, I hope you two get everything done."

I nod, thank her once more and then nudge Henry to do the same, he complies and then he tugs on my thoughts again. I sigh and then wave goodbye to Milo who isn't even paying attention. I smile and Henry pulls me with him back into the Underworld.

The moment my feet touch the ground Henry's lips are on my own. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pulls me closer to him. When we break away I whisper, "gosh Henry, I had no idea-"

Before I can finish though he is kissing me again, I roll my eyes and let him set me on the bed softly. His hands snake up my shirt and he whispers, "You have made me very desperate Katherine Winters."

I smile coyly at him as he lays be backwards and then pulls the tie out of my hair, letting my hair out. He kisses the side of my mouth tenderly, but I can still feel the heat from the touch. He wraps his arm around my lower back and pulls me up to him again and this time I kiss him first.

My twenty sixth birthday passed much like that. The rest of the day we laid together, whispering to one another and then kissing and then everything else followed that.

Late in the afternoon I open my eyes to see Henry is already watching me, his fingers run thought my hair like water in a river and his moonlight eyes watch my face intently.

"What?" I whisper sleepily, while I go to kiss him again. He finishes the kiss and when we break away he whispers, "I was just thinking about some things."

I lay my head on his chest and the whisper, "Like what?" I slip my had into his and he smiles as he kisses my temple.

"Just everything that has happened over the course of seven years, and also what may happen in the next few years" He replies tenderly as he slips his hand from my hair and wraps it around my hips.

I yawn and then say, "Wake me up and tell me if you think Milo should have a brother or a sister."

He chuckles and hugs me close to him, I smile as well as I rest my forehead against his. He kisses the tip of my nose and I cup his face in my hands and then kiss him again. Henry had been right, we really hadn't had a moment like this in a while, last night being an exception.

For a moment we rest in silence and then Henry says, "Kate, I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time now."

I open my eyes and look at him intently, I'm prepared to rip him limb from limb if he puts his name, Persephone's, and the word love in a sentence together. I prop myself up on my elbow and then say, "Yes Henry?"

He smiles up at me and says, "That day in the park with your mother," He pauses when he sees that I'm staring at him with a mixture of confusion and mock interest, then he continues on like he didn't even notice me, "the one that I gave you the memory for. Cerberus was the dog that ruined the picnic, and I was the man that caught him and took the picture."

I stare at him blankly, my mouth hanging open and then I punch him in the stomach. He gasps and I say, "Seriously! I thought you were going to tell me something else!"

"You were expecting me to say something else?" Henry says as he tries to regain his obvious loss of composer. I frown and then start laughing, he laughs along with me, even though he has absolutely no idea why I'm laughing.

"Henry, I swear, I thought you were going to tell me something that had to do with Milo or-"

"I thought now would be a proper time to tell you this." He interrupts, his brow furrowing as he tries to figure out why I had been so upset in the first place. I sigh and then lay back down, nuzzling deep into his arms where I can hide my smile.

"I cannot believe I hadn't figured that out before this. Anything else you want to tell me?" I say as I come back out long enough to see his reaction and to hear his response. He moves a strand of my hair away from my face as he says, "I got to hold you once before your mother took you out of Olympus and down to live your mortal life."

"You held me?" I reiterate, my voice soft and curious. He smiles and whispers, "yes, and actually, that was the only thing that stopped you from crying for a few moments."

I frown at him and then whisper, "Liar." I smile afterward and then kiss him, he pulls away and then says, "No, that is what happened. You can go and speak with your mother about it if you wish."

I roll my eyes and then say, "Will you please stop trying to defend it and let me kiss you?"

He sighs and then says, "As you wish." He pulls my lips to his and I close my eyes as Henry does what he does best, hold me tightly to him and never let go


	7. Chapter 7

A couple hours later we hear the booming of someone banging on the front doors to the manor. I sigh and roll towards Henry, but he's already up. I sigh and then prop myself up, one of the problems with Henry was he struggled to not answer doors when we were in the middle of something.

He pulls a robe on and looks back at me, his mouth opens to speak but I hold up my finger and speak first, "Go on, I'll be here when you get back."

He closes his mouth and then with another sigh, he leaves the room, reminding me only too much of that night at Eden Manor. I lay back down and pull the blankets up around my shoulders then I bury my head in the pillow and tried to go back to sleep.

_Kate. _

A voice screamed in my head and I snapped awake, bolt up right in the bed, my heart hammered and I looked around wildly, thinking someone had come to kill me. No one was in the room, I was alone, all I could were shouts from the hall. I was up and my clothes were on again, I'd seen Henry move like I was, and for a moment I admired myself for being able to do it as well. But right now something was wrong, and Henry had called my name.

_Kate leave quickly... you are in danger. _

I narrowed my eyes at his thought and set my own back at him.

_Like Hell. _

_Katherine Winters, you must leave this instant, you and Milo are in danger. _

As soon as Henry said Milo was in danger my whole out look changed, who had come to hurt us this time? I grabbed my sweater off the floor and then vanished only to arrive in Olympus. My mother was there with a sobbing Milo who was curled up in her arms sobbing in terror.

Seeing him like that broke something in me and I had him in my arms before my mother could even acknowledge that I had arrived. I hushed Milo softly and held him close to me, just like I had when he was a baby and he would wake up in the middle of the night.

"Kate!" My mother's voice was full of surprise and when I looked up at her I realized something was horribly wrong. I narrowed my eyes and said, "Tell me, what is it this time?"

She opened her mouth to tell me but we were thrown to the throne room floor. I curled myself around Milo and rolled when I landed so he wouldn't be crushed under me. He screamed and the glass behind us shattered. I wrapped my arms around him and let the glass hit me; Milo may have been immortal, but I wasn't going to see him get hurt.

A body rolled next to me and I opened my eyes slightly to see Phillip lying there, he groaned in agony and then looked at me. His eyes widened and he whispered to me, "Kate... leave now... before it's too late."

My mother grabbed my arm and the throne room disappeared only to be replaced by a large hedge inclosed space. Milo was still sobbing in my arms and when I looked up I could see flashes of light at the Council battled the new threat.

My mother pulled me to my feet and Milo whimpered, his screams having been satisfied in the throne room. My mother pulled on my arm and then pulled me through a large gap in the hedge.

We ran through the maze, pushing the speed until we arrived at a large wooden door. My mother fumbled for a few seconds and tried to open it, when that failed I shook my head and kicked the door handle. The door groaned and the lock gave, giving us access. I dropped inside with Milo and my mother closed the door and pressed her back against it.

A candle light came to life above our heads and emulated a room that had a cot, a small water pump and a rickety table with chairs. I turned to look a my mother, who stood pressed against the door, pale and terrified.

"What is this place?" I whispered softly as I continued to try and calm Milo. My mother swallowed heavily and whispered, "A safe house, it is only for emergency situations. Only the original six know it's location."

"Well, might have been good to know about this place a couple years ago." I mutter as I set Milo on the cot. He whimpers and then says, "No mommy, no."

I move his dark bangs out of his face and then say, "I'm not going anywhere, mommy's staying right here."

He nods and lays his head in my lap and then curls up next to me. I softly run my fingers through his hair and then say, "what is going on, who is attacking us?"

My mother shifts and then turns to open the door slightly and look out, she glances around, then up at the sky, when she turns around her face is ashen and she says, "we won't be able to hide here forever."

"You're not answering question, who is after me and Milo? Who is the Council fighting?" I whisper this to her, because if I speak any other way, it will come out as a shout, and Milo has heard enough screaming and shouting. There's a bang from above our heads and I look up in surprise. Little pieces of dirt rain down and Milo buries his face in my stomach. I wrap my arms around him and watch my mother across the room from me, pressing against the door.

She swallowed heavily and then whispers, "it was nothing big everything is under control-"

"Mom, Henry was panicking when he told me to leave, Philip got thrown through a window and from what I can tell, everyone on the Council is fighting." I didn't care if I interrupted her, I had a right to know who was attacking me and the rest of my family.

There was a bang and then edges of the door caved in, my mother looked around the room wildly and then said, "The well Kate! Climb into the well with Milo!"

I bit my tongue to keep from asking who was attacking and instead focused on pulling the top off the well. It slid away and when I looked inside all I could see was a long drop into darkness. I turned to her and she eyed the well carefully.

"Follow the path down there it will take you and Milo to safety." She whispered as the door caved in further.

"No, I'm tired of running, and everyone telling me to run when the first sign of danger arrives. I can fight now-"

"Kate, please, I will try to follow." She looked so desperate for me to get in the damn hole that I had no real choice but to stop arguing and follow her order. I may have been Queen of the Underworld but my mother was Queen of the Gods and she could give me every order in the world.

I slid over the hole and held Milo in my arms, he wrapped his arms around my neck and then I looked into the hole. I looked back at my mother and she gave me a quick smile before saying, "Go Kate, I will follow."

I nodded and then pushed off the side and into the hole and darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

The fall was fairly short and it ended in a pool of water that was about six feet deep. I struggled up, my fear of water and swimming instantly kicking in. I helped Milo up onto the paved stone and struggled to pull myself out. When I pulled myself up I looked up at the top only to see darkness, I waited for a few seconds but my mother didn't come down. Something grabbed my leg and I looked down at my son who was crying again, his clothes sopping wet. I took him in my arms and then made a blanket appear in my hands, I was very proud that I could now succeed in making things appear when I needed them, and that power very much so helped with Milo now.

I wrapped the blanket around him and then picked him up in my arms, when I turned to look at this "supposed path" a set of torches burst to life and flooded the alcove with light. I closed my eyes in surprise and then opened them. The torches had lit an opening in the wall for me to see. I took one last look up at the top, my mother had lied again and had been captured or worse, I couldn't risk whoever this was getting a hold of Milo as well. I then turned and began a brisk walk into the tunnel.

About a mile in Milo fell asleep in my arms, and my clothes had dried for the most part. A half mile later the tunnel opened up to a small room with nothing in it but a set of stairs.

I narrowed my eyes, lovely stairs. I started up them and every so often stopped to catch my breath before continuing. The stairs maybe stretched for a mile or two upwards, the top landing was paved stone with soft designs etched into it. I sat down at the top of the stairs for a moment and then decided that by now Henry would be able to speak with me, so while I caught my breath I tried to contact him.

_Henry?_

_Henry? _

_don't make me say your real name._

_fine! Give me the silent treatment, see if I care._

_Hades, where in hell are you?! _

With each try and lengthening silence I grew more worried and miserable. Milo murmured in my arms and then almost fell out of my arms when he shifted. I pulled him tightly to my chest and ran my hand in circles on his back, more for my benefit than his. My mother had said the path would lead me and Milo to safety, all it had lead me to was a set of stairs and another stupid door.

I stood up and then went to open the door. I turned the knob but the door was locked, I cursed and then turned the knob again and pushed myself up against the door. It gave slightly and I pulled back and then turned the knob and braced myself against the door again. The door groaned and Milo woke blue eyes were bleary with sleep and I set him down on his feet so I could try to ram my shoulder into the door. I checked for anymore locks and then turned the knob and slammed my whole body into the door.

It moaned and then gave more. I smiled at my slight triumph and then slammed my shoulder into the door again. it creaked and then fell outward. I cried out as I tumbled out beyond the door. I landed in a patch of ivy and grass. Milo poked his head around the door his eyes wide and then said, "Mommy, what happened?"

I looked up and around me trying to see where we were but all I could see was that we were in a park. Milo came out and I stood up quickly, he grabbed my leg again and whispered, "Where are we?"

For a moment that question ran through my head as well, where were we? For the most part the place looked like a park and we were somewhere near the center of it. I frowned and tried to get my bearings a bit more, I would have been nice to have James here with me to tell me where I was, but he wasn't here, he was somewhere with the Council battling what ever it was that had even the guts to challenge Olympus.

I stepped out of the patch of ivy I was standing in and took Milo's hand in my own. His eyes were wide in awe at everything that was around him. Henry and I had hardly taken him out of the Underworld, this was his first real look at the world below Olympus and above his home.

His little blue eyes searched everything and then he said, "Park?"

I nodded softly and then picked him up in my arms, he was getting much to big to be carried, but I couldn't help it; I wasn't losing Milo in this place. A sudden boom sounded above us and a car alarm went off somewhere, Milo cried out in surprise and I looked above us trying to locate what it was. Nothing appeared in the inky black sky above, it had to be nearly nine at night, a few people came out of their houses across the street for the little park and looked up at the sky.

Milo looked up as well and whispered, "Bad guys, right?" His little observation brought me out of my trance, Olympus was up there, so was Henry, but I was down here with Milo and I had to take care of my son.

I walked out of the shadows created by the tree that was above the hole we had just come out of, when I turned around through to try to find the door, it was gone. The only thing that was there, was a large oak tree trunk with a strange outline marking in it. I frowned, thank Olympus no one had seen me come out of a tree, then Milo and I would really start having problems.

I walked casually across the grassy park and across the street to the row of houses. One man saw me, he blinked in surprise and then said, "Is everything okay miss?"

I turned and Milo said in my ear, "that's not daddy." I nodded and then said, "Yes, it's okay though."

The man walked over and I put on a fake smile of security, and said to him, "Oh of course, my son and I were just out walking."

"at two thirty in the morning?" He replied, not believing me for one second. I swallowed and then said, "Well, he woke me up saying their was light in the sky and he wanted to go look outside so I took him to the park and... did you see the weird lights?"

He shrugged and said, "Not exactly, news said it was a bunch of meteors burning up in the atmosphere."

Milo's eyes widened and he said, "Like stars! Daddy and-"

"Yes Milo, daddy is home." I say quickly before Milo can say anything that might make this man call a mental hospital on me. Milo's lips pucker since that was _absolutly not _what he was about to say. The man smiles and says, "cute kid, I haven't seen you around here before, you are uh..."

"new, we just moved in a couple blocks from here." I say then set Milo on his feet, the man looks down at Milo and says, "uh huh, so are you two... alone?"

That pushed a wrong button somewhere in me, and Milo even looked up in surprise. I glared at the man and he held his hands up in defense.

"Whoa, whoa, I didn't mean it that way. I was just wondering you know... if he's not around or something." The guy looked seriously scared, maybe because he could sense that aura around me that Henry said had been building up over the past few years. I blink, the cover story for me and Milo suddenly coming to a perfect clarity. I nodded softly and then said, "a couple months after Milo was born, he took off, it wasn't really his fault, we just weren't ready for a child and he cracked under the pressure."

One part of that story was true, that being the part about me and Henry not being ready, he had most certainly not been ready for Milo. The man nodded, he seemed to have accepted my story and I relaxed a little more. He looked around at the people who were going back to their houses and then he said to me, "Do you need me to walk you back? These streets aren't really all that safe at night."

I smiled sweetly and then scooped Milo up in my arms, as I carried him away I looked over my shoulder at the man and said, "I'm a pretty tough girl, I think I can handle it."

Sure enough about a half a mile away I found a small motel and bought a room for the night. I didn't prefer to talk about how I did it, but I did it. I'd pulled a James, told another lie and then settled Milo in for the night.

He was sleeping soundly now in the bed, I was so exhausted from the whole day though that I couldn't make anything for him to change into appear so he settled for wearing only his under clothes to bed.

I collapsed in the chair near the desk and tried to call on enough energy to think of a plan. Try as I might though, nothing was forth coming, I was mentally and physically exhausted. My head was aching from all the power I had used, and I suddenly felt horrible for that night seven years ago when I'd kept Henry up. As I thought about that though, it didn't seem so bad. I glanced over at Milo, the product of that night, and smiled. Yes, things could have been much worse.

I stood heavily and kicked my shoes off, the carpeted floor was slightly grimy and stringy and I suddenly missed Henry and the Underworld more than I could bear. It was like taking a punch to the gut and not being about to recover.

I turned the lights off and pulled the curtain's to the window closed, I didn't need any of the things that had taken my mom showing up and seeing me and Milo. I felt my way back to the bed in the darkness and then pulled the blankets back and settled in on the opposite side of Milo. He murmured and then moved closer to me, I pulled him tightly in my arms and then whispered, "It's going to be okay, daddy will find us," sadly I wasn't so sure about that, if Henry knew we were in trouble then he would have contacted me some how, "everything is going to be okay."

I wasn't entirely sure about that either, but I was more sure about it that I was about Henry finding us


	9. Chapter 9

There were one, maybe three things Henry had not been prepared for. One, being James standing on the steps in front of the manor. Two, had been seeing Eris standing behind him, and three had been when James leaped at him.

Now though he was much more aware of what was happening, and the fact that he hadn't seen it coming infuriated him beyond belief.

A loud boom, like thunder sounded next to him and he watched at Walter tried and failed again to escape the cages they were being held in. James had been planing this for a while, he had been smart too, much to smart for his own good.

Phillip looked over and with a snort said, "will you quit doing that, your giving us more headache than help."

Walter's response was to try to vanish again, this time he slammed into the top of his cage. James had separated the three of them, and had put the rest of the council in another cage. The cages weren't really cages though, they were large glass containers that were hung from the ceiling of the throne room in Olympus.

Diana had been dragged in screaming curses in a dozen languages some of which Henry had been shocked to hear from his sister's mouth. She had been thrown into the cage with the rest of the Council and Henry had waited expectantly. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kate to get away, but he was terrified that she had been captured.

When the guards didn't drag another screaming person in, he assumed Kate had gotten away, and even though he was locked up with no way to reach her, he was proud that she had been able to escape.

Diana was in the cage now, listening to a heated debate between Dylan and Ella about who had the right to rip James's head off when this whole thing was over.

Her face darkened and her voice carried through the whole room, "alright, that's enough from you two!"

Silence was her answer, until both Dylan and Ella began to mutter apologies. Theo was sitting in a corner of the box and Ella went back to join him. Dylan continued to pace and Diana said softly, "There's still hope that we can get out of here. Kate is out there still-"

"well we're all going to die." Dylan spit as he glared over at Henry, perhaps blaming him for his choice for a wife. Henry narrowed his eyes, Dylan and Kate had alway butted heads but now he was being senseless.

"Kate has a multitude of skills at her disposal now." Henry replied confidently, and he believed every word of it. Kate did have a multitude of skills, she could now travel as he did perfectly and just as quickly, she could make objects appear, not to mention her visions which could allow her to find a way into a Olympus that maybe wasn't guarded-

"Oh please, the skill of tripping over her own two feet and almost getting us all killed?" Dylan said sarcastically, his frustrations boiling over. Phillip's lips drew into a tight line and he said, "keep yourself in check, we will probably be in here quite a while, I wouldn't blow up and cause your cell mates any problems."

"Easy for you to say, the three of you aren't stuck in a cage with five other people." Dylan huffed as he continued to pace back and forth, slowly rocking the cage.

"Yes, but our cages are smaller." Phillip replied as he narrowed his eyes. Dylan continued to pace and grumble under his breath. Walter slammed into the side of the cage again and this time he was more than furious. A tiny woman poked her head around the corner. She looked around and then walked into the room. She was a pretty woman, maybe thirty years old, with long flowing black hair and clear grey eyes.

"I suggest you stop doing that, you will only make your situation worse." She whispered, her voice sounding vaguely like wind running through wind chimes. Dylan snorted and said, "Oh shut up Circe, we all know your just a stupid witch."

She smiled sweetly and then whispered, "Yes, I suppose. But, I'm the only witch who has ever been able to capture the entire Greek Council of Gods."

She walked about checking on everyone's cages when she reached Henry she smiled at him softly and then said, "Including the more elusive Hades."

"I'm charmed." Henry replied, his eyes narrowing on her. She blinked and then whispered, "Of course none of you are very terrifying when you're locked in glass cases like zoo animals."

"we won't be for long." Theo replied as she checked all the edges of Henry's box, she tapped her finger against her lips a few times as if she were thinking about something and she muttered to herself in Latin.

When she had recovered and had inspected every last square centimeter of Henry's cage she replied to Theo.

"Oh yes, I've forgotten about the Queen of the Underworld. You really shouldn't rely on help from her. She has enough problems of her own, what with Eris and the other gods James sent out looking for her, not to mention James himself will be starting up the search for her as well soon." She moved onto Walter's cage where she spent a large amount of time checking the edges for any sort of breach in her magic cage.

"And what does he plan to do with her?" Henry asked, trying to catch her attention whilst running his finger tip along the edge of the box. Circe rushed over and checked for a hole and then said a little more harshly than was necessary, "I'd rather James tell you that himself."

She seemed to think about this for a minute before saying, "I could give you a hint, but that would... I guess make you really start to think. The whole thing has James thinking after all."

"What thing?" Dylan shouted as he pressed his hands against the glass, Circe smiled and looked over at him, apparently not so worried about her cage breaking now that they had proven they could hold Walter and Henry.

"Keep you mouth shut Ares, I won't hesitate to turn you into a guinea pig." She threatened playfully as she moved out towards the throne room doors. She stopped though as she reached them and then turned around; she smiled directly at Henry and then said, "I'll give you a hint, it's something the Fates have been muttering about for weeks. A prophesy of some kind, but I'm not telling you it."

She laughed, and it sounded surprisingly evil for someone as small and pretty as her. She slammed the doors to the throne room and Phillip said, "well, glad we had a nice chat with her."

Something stirred inside of Henry though. A prophesy, about Kate? The Fates rarely gave out prophesies about gods, generally they were for immortals and demigods. Walter huffed and went about inspecting his cage again, "I wouldn't put to much credence into it, she's probably toying with our minds."

Diana frowned, her mind was working along the same track as Henry's, maybe the prophesy referred to a demigod Kate would meet in the mortal world where she was hiding, or maybe an immortal, but Diana didn't want to think about that. Especially since that put Milo in the mix as a candidate.


	10. Chapter 10

The room was stifling when I woke, Milo was shaking my arm and whining about the heat. His eyes had little dark circles under them and his dark hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. I sighed and swallowed the groan that was about to follow, it felt like someone had slammed a concrete block into the back of my head and then hit my head again repeatedly with a plank of wood. Milo gave up trying to get me up and instead decided that the space below the desk was as good as any place to hide himself.

I sat up and massaged my temples with my fingertips. Where were we, and where was Henry?

Reality came crashing down and made my head hurt ten times more. I pushed the blankets back and stumbled around the room, trying to think of what to do. Survival 101 said to move, never to stay in the same place more than one night. That was much easier of course when I was't pulling Milo along with me.

I glanced over at him sitting under the desk pretending I couldn't see him. He hadn't gotten any sleep last night which meant he was going to be the crankiest kid the world had yet to see. I moved over towards him and then said, "Milo, honey, you need a bath and then you need to get dressed. We need to leave."

He crossed his arms and then said in a very toddler like way no. I sighed and then got on my hands and knees to pull him out from underneath the desk. When I grabbed him and pulled him out, he screamed. And as James had told me once before, Milo had lungs. He screamed and tried to pull away from me, almost hitting his head against the wall and door to the bathroom.

I forced myself to get him into the bathroom, undress him completely, and then get him in the bathtub.

As soon as he was in the water he stopped and just sat there, his lower lip quivering just the slightest bit. I sat down outside the tub and covered my face with my hands. I had to keep it together for Milo, I had to grow up and get my son to somewhere safe. Milo splashed the water slightly with his hands and then said, "I want daddy."

I looked up at him and my vision swam as tears started to fill my eyes. I wiped my eyes quickly, had to keep it together for Milo, if he saw me crying he would cry; I was not emotionally strong enough anymore to battle him again.

I moved his hair away from his forehead and then whispered, "Daddy's coming, I promise."

I got on my knees and Milo let me help him with his bath without crying or screaming.

When we were done with his bath I dressed him in his clothes again and then put my shoes on. Milo was sitting on the bed, his little legs scissor kicking the air. I sighed as I pulled my hair out of my face and tied it up with a rubber band.

"I want Cerberus." Milo said as he looked up at me. I swallowed the truth and then said, "Cerberus is out helping Daddy. They'll meet us somewhere I promise."

I was making one to many promises to my son that I couldn't keep, but it put a smile on his face to think he would see Henry soon. I picked him up and he wrapped his arms around my neck. I opened the door to the motel and then closed it softly behind me. When I turned around two men were standing at the exit to the stairs, they had their arms crossed and a twin set of evil smiles on their faces. I swallowed and looked the other direction at the wall that cut off my other escape route.

They looked at each other and their smiles widened when they saw me recognize that escape was impossible. I looked at the railing that led to a two story drop next to me. I made my way to it and one of the men said, "Oh now let's do anything to hurt ourselves."

I put my back up against the railing and then said, "You're right, you got me." I set Milo on his feet and took his hand tightly in my own. He looked past me and through the railing at the street below. I gripped his hand tightly and then said, "I have no where to go."

Their smiles fell as they realized my plan, they moved towards me and other spoke this time, "Careful what you do, you could hurt yourself of kill yourself and we have strict orders to bring you back alive and unharmed."

Something inside me told me they were actually sent to kill me, but I locked that thought away as I leaned backwards and took Milo over the railing with me.

He screamed and closed my eyes tightly and imagiened the softest place I could think of to land.

The world shifted and we landed heavily in a patch of tulips. Milo was crying again and I opened my eyes to look up at the sun, a tight smile tug at my lips.

There was a cry of outrage and when I proped myself up Persephone was running full tilt over to me. I sat up slowly and felt the ache in my head grow te times worse than before. Milo sobbed and clung to me tightly as I struggled to stand.

"Are you serious? I'm tired of you landing in my tulips when you come here!" Apparently Persephone had reached us and Adonis was not far behind her. I gave her a smile and then said, "Hello to you too."

She saw the state we were in and then said, "What happened." Her eyes narrowed and her face grew dark, which was surprising considering how sweet and innocent she always looked.

"Do you want a summary or the whole story?" I replied as I stepped out from the bed of flowers. She glared at me and then said, "Summary."

"Olympus was attacked, Henry's MIA, mom's MIA, no idea what happened to everyone else, people hunting me down, need safe place to hide for a little bit."

Her mouth dropped open and Adonis came up behind her, she put a hand on his chest and then said, "Go get the bow and arrows, we might have company."

He blinked and then with a tight nod, took off at a brisk jog towards a small shed near the corner of the house. Persephone grabbed my elbow and half dragged me towards her house. I was reminded highly of her old life and how she used to be in the same place I was. Then again, she hadn't had a crazy vengeful goddess try to ruin her life, and Henry had never gone missing with her. Milo continued crying the whole was up to the house, his soft wails of terror stifled by his hand which he had shoved into his mouth.

Persephone opened the door and ushered us inside quickly, Adonis was already inside notching an arrow into the bow. Persephone opened the door to the small guest bedroom she had and I guided Milo inside. He looked around and then ran back to me and threw his arms around my waist. I sighed and picked him up, he wrapped his arms around my neck and whispered that he wanted to go home.

Persephone watched me set him on the bed and move the blankets so that he could crawl into the bed and sleep. Once he was comfortable I sat next to him and caressed his forehead softly. A few seconds later Milo was out cold, his chest rising and falling softly as he slept. I stood and Persephone moved out of the way so I could leave the room.

I joined her with Adonis in the front room where most of her plants were kept. She motioned to a seat which I took gratefully and said, "What happened? Last I checked you and Henry were riding into the sunset, with Milo in tow."

"You think I know what happened?" I replied, maybe I was being a little rude to her, after all she was letting me stay here, but something about the way she kept glancing out the widows made me uneasy.

"I sure don't know what happened, do you have any idea?" She asked, then I caught the subtle lie in her words, it was buried so deep down though that I was surprised to have felt it.

"You really have no idea?" I replied, my eyes narrowing. Persephone looked taken aback for a moment before she said, "Everyone knows what happened. Everyone knows what's going on."

"Well I don't, which is completely normal for me. And I hate to pull rank right now, but I don't like not knowing, and as your queen I'm going to ask you nicely to tell me." I really did hate making it an order, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to get to the answer any other way. She narrowed her eyes and then said, "James, James is what happened and is happening."

I shift, suddenly very uncomfortable. What had James done, a part of me must have known this, but my heart didn't want to admit the truth.

"What has he done?" I whisper softly, my heart climbing into my throat each second that Persephone stays quiet after I ask.

"He's taken Olympus and is holding the entire Council captive," she looks down at her hands and then continues softly, "He's been planning this thing for five years. When I came to the manor that night, after you'd sent him out for things he'd said, I was going to tell you."

"Why didn't you?" I growled, my voice cold and icy, if Persephone had just said something Henry and I could have gone to the Council and all this could have been avoided.

"I swore to him that I wouldn't tell you. I swore on the River Styx that I wouldn't tell you until the whole thing had taken place." She looked truly ashamed and I felt my frown disappear, she may have been selfish to not tell someone, it hadn't specified Henry I'm sure.

"Why didn't you tell Henry?"

"There was never a proper time, and by the time I got there to warn him you were gone and James had him up at Olympus," She rested her forehead in her hand and then continued, "he wants you Kate, he wants Milo and Henry gone, he thinks that he can get what he wants, oh Kate, he's lost it."

I feel my heart falter, James had captured the entire Council and taken Olympus, just to get to me? Persephone raises her head to look at me and I whispered, "why does he want me so bad, and why does he want Milo dead?"

Persephone swallows visibly and then says softly, "There's a prophesy. It speaks of an immortal child that will vanquish him and retake Olympus, problem is, it doesn't specify who the child is, so James is going around and rounding up all the immortal children. There are only two in the whole world right now-"

She stops when she sees my face and then she looks at Adonis carefully since he's rising to go to the door. She looks back at me and says in a hurried whisper, "The Fates had prophesied these children for years. The strange thing is, it's a boy and a girl. The boy is older, and supposedly he's already born but the girl is coming soon."

Adonis nods to her and then sits down again, Persephone seemed to breath again. I narrowed my eyes and said, "alright then, so I'm just throwing darts at a board but I'm guessing Milo's one of them."

"Kate, both the children are supposed to be Hades's children. That's why the rumor about us never sleeping together went around, it was because everyone thought I was supposed to have the children, but it's you. You are supposed to have the children."

Her eyes are watching me carefully, my brain picks every part of that comment apart before it starts to comprehend. I was supposed to give birth to these prophesy children, Henry was supposed to be their father and they were supposed to retake Olympus. Milo was what, seven? The last time we had let him handle a sword was when Dylan gave him one for his seventh birthday just to get a rise out of me. Milo could hardly carry the thing and Henry and I had put it in his closet in the box so that he could have it when he was older.

This second child though, how I the name of Olympus was I supposed to have another child while Henry was all the way up on Olympus and I was all the way down here, unless-

I felt the blood drain from my face and Persephone grabbed my arm, I couldn't feel the touch though, all I could about was a few days ago when Henry and I had slept together.

Why did this always happen to us? I was seriously tired of the whole someone wanting to take revenge and me magically being pregnant at the worst times possible. Henry probably didn't know, unless the whole impassible desire to sleep with me had been so that this second child could be born. Which would have to mean that Henry had known all along what was going on and hadn't told me. He had been thinking about the future, at least that was what he had told me, and he hadn't bothered to say, hey Kate there's this prophesy about two of our children and you have to have them like right now so that they can go kick James in the ass when he takes over Olympus tomorrow morning.

"Kate?" I snap out of my thoughts and Persephone says, "You have to go, we need to hide you somewhere safer. James thinks I'm on his side, I can feed you information from the inside and pass messages along to Henry."

I shiver and then say, "Persephone, I'm pregnant right now, like two or three days pregnant."

She laughs, it's wonderfully happy and when I look at her she says, "It's just that, Henry has no idea!"

I narrow my eyes and say, "what are you talking about? Of course he does, he knows about the prophesy."

"Kate, Walter never told him, only me, James, and Walter know about it. The Fate's had just missed Henry. He had left on some important business or another and I was about to leave when I saw James eavesdropping on something in the throne room so I went over and listened too."

I blink as that fact registers, again Henry would have no idea that I was carrying his child, I was getting sick of Walter keeping things from us.


	11. Chapter 11

**Im soooooo sorry about how long the space between the chapters get. I'm just handling a lot right now. Mostly school and other writing projects that I have been working on for much longer. Not to mention trying to bridge plot gaps and loops holes. **

** I also really want to thank the people who have been following this story. (:** **The support really helps me to keep writing this. I also want to say that the updates may be slow in coming for a while, since taking seven honors classes with AP classes is not easy. **

** So now that I'm done speaking my mind, here is the chapter you guys have been waiting for, for almost two weeks: **

The throne room was deathly quiet it seemed. No one made a sound, the only sound that could be heard was the shuffling of someone as they tried to get comfortable in the cage they sat in. Suddenly Dylan's voice broke the silence almost causing everyone's ears to ring.

"Hey James? Do have any twos?"

The silence that followed made Dylan's next comment sound louder than then first, "okay, just asking you know."

James sighed from his position on the thrown that faced them all, he looked incredibly bored and frustrated. The doors on the other end were thrown open and James sat up straight instently as Eris came stalking through the doors.

A tiny brown haired woman with pitch black eyes, Eris represented everything chaotic in the world and she always enjoyed causing a little chaos. The council had kept her at bay for years by keeping her locked up tight on an island like they had Cronus seven years ago, but James and Circe had managed to help her escape.

"Tell me some good news, please." James growled as he rose from the throne. Eris narrowed her eyes and said, "your little girl fiend is harder to catch than you let on. Recently she jumped off a freakin balcony with her little brat and disappeared, we're monitoring all exits and entrances to the Underworld, here-"

"Are you telling me that Kate got away again?" James hissed. Eris shifted and Henry spoke calmly from his cage nearest to James, "you sound surprised James."

James turned on him and spit, "yes, I am! Thousands of minor gods and goddess are out after Kate. And she manages to get passed all of them without so much as anyone seeing her. So yes, uncle, I'm very surprised."

Henry smiled carefully and then said, "Kate is more resourceful than you think. She will evade you for a while before you so much as catch a glimpse of her."

James snorted and said, "soon traveling won't be easy for her, for the time being though, get me the Fates Eris. Tell them I have need of them."

Eris snorted under her breath and said, "they won't come, I already tri-"

"Get them, I don't care how you do it, bring them here before me!" James shouts as he brushed passed her and left the throne room. Eris growled under her breath and then disappeared.

Phillip narrowed his eyes and said, "three weeks, it's been three weeks. Where is she?"

"Hiding, hiding herself very well." Diana whispered as she upbraided her hair to start again. Theo frowned and then said, "James said something about moving around getting harder for her. Do you think Kate's hurt?"

Dylan snorted and Ella shook her head. Walter narrowed his eyes and suddenly James came back into the throne room. His eyes were alight with anger and fury as two more people followed him.

"James, this isn't right! Maybe you can talk it over with them!"

The one who had spoken was a young man with blond hair and gray eyes. He tried to step in front of James but the other pulled him back. James flipped around on them and spit, "find me Katherine Winters and we might talk."

"Kate? You mean Hades's wife? What she got to do with this?" The small one spoke again.

"If you would have shut up and listen to me you would know Casey." James growled as he stalked passed the council, Casey scurried past them but glanced at Henry as he went. He grimaced softly and then stopped behind James.

"I don't know what you want us to do! Kate's managed to evade all your shadow guarded and Eris, and all the other minor gods, so want help are we?"

Lux grabbed Casey's arm and said, "what's in it for us?"

"Lux! What are you thinking?" Casey shouted as he whirled around on his brother. Lux narrowed his eyes and James sat down again. He smiled and said, "Castor's free forever of course. I destroy the dumb agreement you have with the council and you never have to worry about being hunted again."

Lux licked his lips as if he were tasting the air like an animal for danger on the wind. Casey shook his head his eyes wide and fearful. Lux nodded and then said, "done, well get ahold of her. But you better hold up your end of the deal."

"Always." James said, he rose as if it were finalized and then said, "go then, and bring Kathrine Winters back to me. The boy you can kill, if he's alive though when you bring them to me, I'll double your reward."

Lux nodded and dragged a hell raising Casey behind him. Casey was shouting about how this was comepltly wrong, Kate had helped them. If it wasn't for her he would be in the Underworld right now and lie would be all alone.

The doors closed behind them and James relaxed and slumped down in his throne. Walter narrowed his eyes and spit, "our deal with them is set in stone! You cannot break it!"

James rolled his eyes and then said, "it doesn't matter."

The doors to the other end off the throne room opened and a large fog swept in. Ella squeaked in surprise and three figures seemed to bend into form in the middle of the throne room. The misty air cleared around them and three shadowy women stood there. They wore heavy black cloaks that covered their faces and hands. Underneath the hoods though, there were three sets of yellowing eyes.

"The Fates." Nicholas whispered. The entire council fell silent and cold as James rose from the throne and bowed to them briefly. When he rose he said, "good morning, I know it's an inopportune time for you-"

"Speak no more thief,"

"Captor,"

"Liar."

Three voices seemed to vibrate through the mist, and James stumbled backwards and sat in the throne again.

The Fates seemed the shift in the fog as one entity and three voices spoke again.

"Where is the one of the dark,"

"The king of death,"

"Father and lover."

Everyone froze and Henry stood slowly in his cage as to not sway it. He raised his voice, keeping it strangely even. "I am here."

"A prophesy,"

"Truth,"

"Future,"

"Have we for you."

Henry froze, his entire entity turning to an icy brittleness. The Fates holds turned towards him and he bowed her head respectfully to them. A soft light flashed through the fog and Henry felt himself swallowed by the warmth of it. He closed his eyes and waited. The prophesies were interesting things, they were relieved through word and image, and the Fates loved their riddling words. He raised his eyes only to straighten up completely. He was standing in his room in the Underworld. Someone was humming and moving around. A smile tugged at his lips and he whispered her name.

She moved into the room with milo following closely at her heels. He moved towards her and reached out to touch her. His hand went through her arm and he froze. It had been to good to be true and he should have known. Kate reached down into a cradle and pulled something out of it. Milo stood on his toes next to her and asked something, the words were muted though and Henry found himself choking. He had been hoping to hear his sons voice but the Fates knew just how to torture a person before reviling what they had come to speak about.

The image dissolved back to the throne room of Olympus, it was dark though, and no one stood in it. He was completely alone, spare one person who was standing at the edge of the throne room, right in front of one of the glass windows.

James was looking over the edge and speaking quietly to something, or maybe someone. Henry crossed the room, knowing what ever it was he had to see was over there.

When he was close enough to see the dark circles under James eyes, he saw the hands that were gripping the glass covered edge. He looked over to see someone gripping in the edge. He frowned but James sighed and said, "A shame really."

James pried the person's hand away from the edge, there was a scream as whoever it was plummeted to their death. James turned away from the empty glass plane and said, "Alls well that ends well."

He walked away from the spot where he had murdered the person and eventually the scene vanished completely.

The prophesy was over. The Fates were gone and the rest of the council was sleeping or whispering quietly. James was gone, as was Eris and the guards. Had he really been gone for that long?

"What did they show you brother?" Walter's voice carried softly across the room and Henry narrowed his eyes.

"they showed me something that you neglected to tell me about." Henry growled. By now he had pieced together the first vision and the second. The first thought that came to his mind burned his insides and turned the taste in his mouth sour. The second turned his body to ice, and his heart and mind instantly worried about Kate and his son, who were both alone.

Walter narrowed his eyes as well and said, "Whatever was kept from you was for a purpose."

"Kate is alone, and we have no way to contact her and warn her." Henry hissed, Walter was worrying about everything once more that didn't involve the safety of his family. He neglected to think about Kate and Milo, and that sent hot hatred running through Henry washing away the icy worry.

"That is not important, Fate has it that she will survive long enough to bring the second child, then we only have to wait for them to come." Walter seemed coldly casual about the whole thing, once again, Henry forced himself not to pull age into the question, he may have been the eldest, but Walter had put himself in charge.

"My queen is alone, and possibly with child-"

"As I recall she was in this situation before." Walter pointed out as he stretched and stood. Henry growled softly and Walter narrowed his eyes as he spoke again, "Be more worried about how prepared your offspring will be brother, that is what I am and would be worried about."

"They are my children. Not game pieces that are to be moved around like pawns in your game." Henry spoke as he stood taller.

"Your children's heritage are of no concern to me, what is of my concern is when they will come and how prepared they will be."

Henry smiled softly, the perfect come back that would burn his youngest brother into silence coming to mind.

"Mine will be much more prepared than yours ever were. I do believe that mine shall surpass everything your children have ever done."

Walter turned and the air around him seemed alight with electricity and static. The rest of the council looked up or woke up, sensing the surge of power and hostility.

"Play nice you two, we don't need a battle in the middle of the throne room."Sofia whispered, as she rose and tried to bottle up Walter's power before he did something stupid with it.

"We shall see, _brother_." Walter spit the last word as if it were poison on his tongue and then sat down once more. The room went deathly quiet, until Dylan said, "I'm guessing this means that were going to be here for a while."

Nicholas sighed and then said, "Perhaps."

The throne room fell silent as everyone dropped into sleep or silently stared into space. Henry sat down quietly in the middle of his cage. Kate was alone somewhere, being hunted by someone whom she thought was a friend. And to think that soon, she would be even more troubled. Another child was coming, and she would have no one to help her, moving would become almost impossible, and trusting would be easy for her. Henry set his jaw, he had no way to warn her, he could only hope that Kate would find out who her enemies were before it was too late.


End file.
